A word on words

Lately I've been thinking about the annoying words that are considered cuss words. I hear them all the time, probably a few times a day, either in the bus going to classes, working in a group on a project, in class either from students or teachers (ridiculous that such educated beings use language that shows they can't choose a better word to get their point across). I've been doing my research on vulgarity. Trying to explain to anyone why cussing and vulgarity is bad is very hard. And I find it difficult to make others understand. Really, they are just words...even I think that, so what's the harm in it? How is the d or f word any different than the word building or mouse? So I wanted to get a strong explanation and argument for why profane words are so different from other words.

One thing I love about the internet is that there is a lot of information, and that there are a lot of talks on LDS.org that explain a lot of the high standards in life that I hold that I don't always understand. So after reading quite a few articles, to find that perfect statement, the perfect argument, I found this one. I whole-heartedly agree with everything that is in it. The info for the talk just in case the link doesn't work is: Ted E. Brewerton, “Profanity and Swearing,” Ensign, May 1983, 72 And here's the link: http://lds.org/ldsorg/EmailArticleProcess?action=view&cmlId=399165&locale=0&emId=755414172

If you think about it, words are what make us a people. What we choose to speak defines us. The people who use lofty and what-the-heck-does-that-mean words are classified as the snobs or the really smart people. If you cut off the end of your words, such as doin, 'em, brotha, gonna...you're thought of as a hick, from the south, illiterate perhaps. And there are 500,000 words, well that was the statistic in 1983 so way more than that now, in the English language. Why be boring and use the same ones over and over again. Really, read this article, I'm repeating a lot that is said in it and it really helped me to know why the words we choose are so important.

If you think about all the cuss words there are out there, they are descriptive and describe everything they are used for in a negative way. They have a pessimistic nature and sound to them. And being a pessimist does not bring happiness.

One last thing I wanted to point out that was in this article that I liked most especially.

How interesting it is to hear nonmembers of the Church express their feelings about bad language. I like very much the title and comments used by Bob Greene of the Field Newspaper Syndicate who speaks of swearing in these terms. The title he uses is “Hear Pollution.”
“Obscenity, the open use of which used to be a mark of lower social strata, has somehow become acceptable in everyday conversation for everyday people.
“And yet, I am offended—not out of a sense of morality or of prudishness—but because foul language used casually in public comes close to the idea of a violation of privacy. I know that there are some around who feel assaulted by hearing it. I chose that word very carefully; certain language is an assault on the senses.
“Those who disagree are probably saying, ‘after all, it’s only words.’ But words are vehicles; they convey messages. And to some people, the message of profanity is a message of ugliness and aggressiveness and a disrespect for civil behavior.
“Bathroom and sexual obscenities can now be heard in certain popular songs on the radio, and even some magazines and newspapers have begun to print language that would have been unthinkable five years ago. This practice is usually defended under the name of ‘freedom.’ But whose freedom is it? If the language of ugliness becomes so much a part of our society that it is impossible to escape no matter where one turns, then who is free and who isn’t?”

So don't take away the freedom and privacy of others. Thanks for listening.